Lucas 505.01 5w40 in a VW PD engine

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Due to circumstances beyond my control the sump of my unit injector VW TDI (which calls for the VW 505.01 spec oil to help with camshaft wear issues) was filled with Lucas Synthetic 5w40 oil which "meets and exceeds" the VW 505.01 spec among others.

I haven't heard much good said about Lucas products.

I've got some Motul 505.01 specific oil on hand. Should I change it now, keep the Lucas in the sump for the summer and change it in the fall or go the full 10k miles OCI on the Lucas?
 
Matters how much you like your car. Your probably fine for a 3 to 5k oci, but if it's eating you up inside then change it.
 
Are all Lucas oils considered substandard? If it meets the spec, why not use it the full oci?
 
Lucas products are IMO, not a top tier oil, but looking at certain oil performance tests, it IS a balanced oil in all the important aspects of an engine oil, just not at the top...
 
I looked at a UOA for Lucas, and it seems decent, but got great. It's hard to get over their snake oils and take their other products seriously. For the same price or less, you should be able to get M1 TDT or RT6.
 
Is it approved by VW? Or just recommended by Lucas for 505.01 applications?

Either way, as a one-off it'll be ok to use but stick with Motul or Redline in the future
 
Originally Posted By: SR1919
Also VW 507 oils are supposed to be backward compatible with VW 505.01 requirements. See for example the Mobil 1 ESP 5W-30 specs. So there is another possible option for you.
5w30 oils should not be used in a PD engine, regardless of whether VW says it's ok or not.
 
I'd change it out now. I've got 8k miles left of my OCI on Pentosin (505.01) and will be switching over to Mobil 1 TDT afterwards.
 
I agree with Nick that no PD TDI should use a 5W-30 regardless of what VW says.

As for the Lucas 505.01... at least it is of the correct viscosity grade. I would personally use the oil for the full duration. It is claimed to meet the specification, it is of the correct and preferred viscosity grade, and while Lucas is a proponent of much snake oil, they are a reliable source of lubrication products.
 
Some of the pqia advisories are fear porn. So the 15w passed a 10w test... not an issue.

Use the Lucas for the full OCI. Nothing special about the 505.01 oils.
 
Originally Posted By: Surestick
Due to circumstances beyond my control the sump of my unit injector VW TDI (which calls for the VW 505.01 spec oil to help with camshaft wear issues) was filled with Lucas Synthetic 5w40 oil which "meets and exceeds" the VW 505.01 spec among others.

I haven't heard much good said about Lucas products.

I've got some Motul 505.01 specific oil on hand. Should I change it now, keep the Lucas in the sump for the summer and change it in the fall or go the full 10k miles OCI on the Lucas?

I just put in my gasser Pentosin 5W40 which is approved for VW505.01.
One thing I noticed after M10W40 and Castrol 0W40 is smoothness. Could be due to the thickness.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: SR1919
Also VW 507 oils are supposed to be backward compatible with VW 505.01 requirements. See for example the Mobil 1 ESP 5W-30 specs. So there is another possible option for you.
5w30 oils should not be used in a PD engine, regardless of whether VW says it's ok or not.


Interesting enough I went to several European VW/TDI forums to find out if there has been cam failures using 507 oils (which have been around in Europe before the US/Canada) and I could not find evidence of issues with 507 oils in Pumpe Duse engines. I also e-mailed several European oil companies including Liqui Moly and others and their reply was that their PD customers have been using 507 oils without shortening the life of their cams.

I also talked with the technical fellow at www.opieoils.co.uk and his response was similar about the suitability of 507 approved oils for PD engines.

It could be that in the US/Canada there were other factors in play that gave a bad reputation to 505.01 5W-30 oils (mostly Castrol brand) used by the not-so-competent US VW dealerships.

For technical references here is the Lubrizol Relative Performance Comparison Tool for Passenger Car Specifications:

https://www.lubrizol.com/apps/relperftool/pc.html
 
Originally Posted By: SR1919
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: SR1919
Also VW 507 oils are supposed to be backward compatible with VW 505.01 requirements. See for example the Mobil 1 ESP 5W-30 specs. So there is another possible option for you.
5w30 oils should not be used in a PD engine, regardless of whether VW says it's ok or not.


Interesting enough I went to several European VW/TDI forums to find out if there has been cam failures using 507 oils (which have been around in Europe before the US/Canada) and I could not find evidence of issues with 507 oils in Pumpe Duse engines. I also e-mailed several European oil companies including Liqui Moly and others and their reply was that their PD customers have been using 507 oils without shortening the life of their cams.

I also talked with the technical fellow at www.opieoils.co.uk and his response was similar about the suitability of 507 approved oils for PD engines.

It could be that in the US/Canada there were other factors in play that gave a bad reputation to 505.01 5W-30 oils (mostly Castrol brand) used by the not-so-competent US VW dealerships.

For technical references here is the Lubrizol Relative Performance Comparison Tool for Passenger Car Specifications:

https://www.lubrizol.com/apps/relperftool/pc.html



That tool is neat.
 
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